1. What Is A Short-Form Video?

Did you know that short-form videos have the highest ROI of any social media marketing strategy at 30%? Short-form videos are a gold mine for advertisers trying to attract new customers. A short-form video is a type of video that is less than two minutes long and is often displayed on social platforms like TikTok, Youtube shorts, and Instagram reels. These videos are perfect for promoting your business or product online. You can use them to explain what your company does, how it works, and what makes it unique.

Types Of Short-Form Video Platforms

There are two major categories of short-form video platforms: those that focus on user-generated content (UGC) and those that focus on professional content. UGC platforms are great for sharing personal stories and experiences. UGC influences consumers’ purchasing decisions more than brand or influencer generated content, according to Nosto. Professional Content is best suited for showcasing products and services, or promoting events. 

2. How To Create A Short-Form Video

Short-form videos are a powerful way to get the attention and engagement of viewers. They can be used to promote any business, product, service, or brand. YouTube, Facebook Live, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok are platforms where you can upload and distribute a short-form video. These platforms are increasingly used for marketing, and publishing short-form videos to them is another way to reach your customers. 

Short-form videos can be made using free software programs like Camtasia Studio or Animoto. You can use screen recordings, voice over, animation, pictures, or already recorded videos to create the perfect short form video to display your business.

It’s also important to optimize each video for the platform you want to share it on. For example, Instagram and Facebook stories allow you to share up to 15 seconds of a video at a time. YouTube shorts can be up to 60 seconds long. TikTok allows videos up to 3 minutes long.

Tips For Using Short-Form Video Platforms

Once you know what platform you want to use, here are some tips for getting the most out of it.

Choose A Good Title

When uploading your video to a short-form video platform, make sure you choose a title that clearly describes what the video is about. If you don’t do this, people may not watch or find your video.

Make Sure You Have An Audience

Before uploading any video to a short-format video platform, make sure that you have an audience ready to view it. This means ensuring you have high-quality content that addresses a question, topic, or product that you know people will take interest in.  If you don‘t, then no matter how good your video is, nobody will ever see it.

Upload Regularly

If you plan to use short-form videos regularly, make sure you keep uploading fresh videos. People who see your videos regularly are more likely to visit your website and create conversions. 

3. How To Promote Your Short Form Videos

Once you have created your short-form video, you need to promote it. You can do this by sharing it on social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google, and Twitter and putting advertising dollars behind it. You can also post it on your website and email list. When sending your short-form video out to your website or email list, make sure to mention the platform you uploaded them to. Try to keep the description of your video brief and to the point. If you want people to watch your video, they should not have to scroll down to find out what the video is about.

4. How To Get People To Watch Your Short-Form Videos

There are a few tricks of the trade to get people to watch your short-form videos. First, it is important to add personality to your video and talk about a topic that is relevant to your niche and target audience. Second, since short-form videos are posted on social media platforms it is important to look out for popular trends and utilize them in your videos. For example, influencer ads are a huge trend that small and large businesses can leverage. Hubspot Blog Research found that 66% of marketers’ companies work with influencers on TikTok. Finally, make sure to include links to your website and other social media profiles if you have them. This will create a more streamlined customer experience. 

5. How To Measure Success Of Your Short-Form Videos

When measuring the success of your short-form videos, consider at least seven metrics: view count, engagement, play rate, watch time, social shares, click and click-through rates, and conversions. 

View Count

You might think all platforms measure views the same way, but this could not be less true. Here’s how major platforms measure a “view”:

• YouTube: Someone intentionally watches your video for 30 seconds
• Facebook: Someone views your video for 3 seconds 
• Instagram: Video views count after 3 seconds; Live video views count the second someone joins the broadcast
• Twitter: Someone watches your video for 2 seconds with at least 50% of the video player on their screen
• TikTok: A video view counts as soon as your video starts playing in someone’s feed

Engagement 

Engagement includes likes, shares, comments, and retweets. You can measure the success of your short-form video by looking at the number of views and engagement it receives.

Play Rate

Play rate is how many people actually clicked play to start watching your short-form video. This metric requires action. This is calculated by the number of people who clicked play divided by the total number of visitors who accessed the video. 

Watch Time

Watch time is the total amount of time that people have watched your video. It is the cumulative total and includes replays. A longer watch time means people are enjoying your video and a shorter watch time means you may not have created an appealing short form video.

Social Shares

One of your main goals for video content should be social shares. This widens your audience exponentially, increasing brand awareness and potentially bringing in new leads.

Click and Click-Through Rates

The goal with short-form video ad campaigns is to get as many people as possible to click from your video to your landing page to learn more about your business, product or service. You can measure your click-through rate by dividing the number of clicks that your ad receives by the number of times your ad is seen.

Conversions

Conversions measure the percentage of customers who take the call-to-action that you desire. This could be filling out a web form, calling your office, or visiting your website. There are digital tools that allow customers to track their conversion rate that should be used. This is one of the most important measures of success and should be tracked frequently. 

In Conclusion…

Short-form videos are a great way to market your business and promote your products and services. Learning how to create short form videos that appeal to your audience and are engaging is a skill that will only be more useful as time goes on. Don’t forget to choose a good title, grow your audience, and upload regularly. You can measure your success with the seven metrics discussed above for the best results. Don’t forget to have fun!